Over the past few months, the #MeToo revolution has brought down men in Hollywood, in media, and in the food world who have harassed or violated women. Other even more male-dominated industries have been slower to respond to this watershed moment, including the auto industry — where violating women has long been tolerated and part of the culture.

The plants are self-enclosed worlds where employees pass on job referrals so relatives, classmates and longtime friends can work together. They share gossip and rumors, but also keep secrets that entrench bad behavior. Many feel deep loyalty to Ford and their union, and resent the female accusers, fearing they may damage the company and jeopardize good paychecks and generous benefits. Some women are suspected of gaming a system where sex is a powerful lever.

It’s not easy for women in any industry to stand up and speak out. There are consequences for doing so, not to mention rewards for keeping quiet, and complying with demands for sex in exchange for better treatment. This is even truer in auto factories, where sexual harassment and misconduct are deeply ingrained in the culture.

In the last five years, one woman said a male co-worker bit her on the buttocks. A supervisor told a female subordinate, “I want to screw you so bad,” she recalled. A laborer described in pornographic detail what he wanted to do to another woman, then exposed himself to her, she said; later, he pushed her into an empty room and turned off the lights before she fled.

Those who complained said they faced retaliation from co-workers and bosses. Some women were frightened after harassers warned them to watch their backs. An Army veteran who accused a man of groping her was physically blocked by his friends from doing her work, she said. Later she found her car tires slashed in the parking lot.

Ford officials say that they have a strict policy against retaliation, and that supervisors who exact retribution will be disciplined. But “when you speak up,” Ms. Gray said, “you’re like mud in the plant.”

In explaining why harassment became so ingrained, she and others described sex as a preoccupation at the plants — variously a diversion, a currency and a weapon. There were plenty of consensual affairs and flirtations, employees agree. Some women used sex to win favors from the overwhelmingly male hierarchy. Bosses rewarded those who acquiesced to their advances by doling out cushier jobs or punished those who spurned them, requiring them to do more taxing, even dangerous work.

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